April 2009 Archives

I went to the Seta River to fish for the black bass and got the biggest one I had ever had. The Seta River flows out of the south end of Biwako, the Lake of Lute. Soon, it changes the name into the Uji River, penetrating an old town Uji which is famous for beautiful temples. Then it meets with the Kizu River from Nara and the Katsura River from Kyoto, changing the name into the Yodo River. After supplying the water to the Osaka Plain, it flows into Osaka Bay.

Beside Biwako there was a capital of Japan from 667 to 672 C.E. In 660, Kudara (Baekje in Korean), a kingdom in south Korea which was allied with Japan, was ruined by the united force of Tang in China and Shiragi (Silla in Korean) in Korea. The Japanese government was worried about the invasion of the enemies, and transferred the capital from Asuka near Nara to Ôtsu near Biwako. In those days, the foundations of the centralized nation were built up.

After Kudara had fallen, many exiles came to Japan with the high culture of the continent, for example, philosophy like Confucianism and Buddhism, or technique like architecture and medicine. They were naturalized into Japan and helped the Japanese to construct the new concept of the nation. Their greatest contribution was the Constitution and the law. In 701 C.E., Taihô Ritsuryô, the first Constitution was promulgated, and in 757, it was revised into Yôrô Ritsuryô, which was effective until 1890 when the modern constitution was enacted. Japan has been a law-governed country for more than a thousand years.

I suspect that the Kudara people spoke the same, or, at least, similar, language to the Japanese. As I wrote in "At an Ancient Village" on March 30, 2009, the ancestors of the Japanese are thought to come from south China through south Korea. Kudara must have been the same tribe as Japan. Though this is my speculation, we have some archeological evidence like the common earthenware.

Anyway, the ancient capital near Biwako, sometimes called Ôtsu, sometimes Shiga, was the first place where united Japan was established. Now, there are no traces of the capital there. Even in twelfth century, nothing seemed to be found: In Heike Monogatari, "The Story of Heike", Tadanori, the Duke of Satsuma, a general of the defeated, sang a song:

I was in Tokyo to give a lecture. Two hundred people came; most of them were young mothers. Tokyo has a quite different culture to Osaka. Osaka people are open and frank, sometimes vulgar, while Tokyo people are polite and courteous, sometimes pretentious. I tried to be polite and courteous as possible as I could. As a result, I was absolutely exhausted. Fortunately, reputation of the lecture seemed to be very good.

Movement of Adlerian Psychology in Tokyo was once destroyed into ruin [1]. Some people, who were my students, developed a mistaken interpretation, and taught mothers how to manipulate their children through a technique called the Logical Consequences. Many families were damaged by their teaching. I criticized them, but they did not listen to me. Unfairly enough, they evaded discussing with me in official occasions, and spoke ill of me in a shade. In the struggle with them, I translated a paper of Jane Nelsen, in which she claimed the danger of the technique [2]. In 1998, I invited her, and she gave us some lectures. Those lectures were very helpful to think what was on earth the child rearing on Adlerian Pscychology. I designed a programmed course for parenting named, "Passage". By and by the problem was solved and healthy parenting came back to us.

The people who misused the Adlerian technique had another problem. That was eclecticism. They mixed up Adlerian Psychology with everything; from Psychoanalysis to Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, or from Tantric Buddhism to fortune-telling. Similar problem is known in Europe [3] and in the USA [4]. I believe we should decide the identity of Adlerian Psychology. I wrote many papers and a book to clarify my opinion. As always, an enemy is the best friend to a worrier.

In 1999 I made an office in Tokyo to re-establish the movement. I worked there with two Walküre-s in the picture. After long struggles, we succeeded to have many new colleagues to work with. After seven years, in 2006, I closed the office. Now my beautiful Walküre-s are getting a little bit older. Still they are reliable leaders in this district, but we need younger power. The main purpose of today's lecture is to get new students who will be the core of the next generation.

[1] Nakajima, H. et. al.: Individual Psychology in Japan. The Adlerian, 13(3): 146, 2000.
[2] Nelsen, J.: The Three R's of Logical Consequences, the Three R's of Punishment, and the Six Steps for Winning Children Over. Individual Psychology, 41(2):161, 1985.
[3] Erklärung zur individualpsychologischen Identität der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Individualpsychologie. Zeitschrift für Individualpsychologie, 25(4): 364, 2000.
[4] Sperry, L.: To Be or Not To Be Adlerian: The Personal and Organizational Dynamics of Establishing One's Theoretical Orientation. Journal of Individual Psychology, 63(2): 126, 2007.

Winter is a boring season. Not only fishes but also anglers should hibernate. To console myself, I make lures with wood. Winter is so long that I have a tremendous amount of them. Those lures are for the black bass. Spring has come. I must go fishing to use them.

The black bass (Micropterus salmoides), or the large-mouth bass, was first imported into Japan in 1925 from the USA for fishing. After the Greater East Asia War, Americans planted the fish in many lakes and rivers. However, it did not cause any serious problems for long. In 1980's, fishing for it by lures became explosively prevalent among young people. Befre that, the fishing was a play for the children and the elderly. All the concept of the fishing has been changed by the lure. Now, the fishing is very "stylish" sports.

On the other hand, in 1980's, the destruction of ecosystem by the black bass was worried about. Especially, fishermen insisted that the fisheries were in danger because of it. Some scholars agreed with them, others disagreed. After many discussions, in 2005, the government prohibited raising and planting the fish by law.

I do not think the black bass causes the damage of fisheries. At least, as for big lakes, the decrease of fisheries is obviously related to the so-called "development", which were and are severely destroying the natural environment. I suspect that the government are using the black bass as an excuse for its conduct. Some researchers wrote books on this theme, but the big media, which are under the influence of big companies, are not going to pay attention to those opinions. The black bass is now called the "fish pest" by them. Fortunately, it is not prohibited to fish for it although its population severely decreased after the law.

Biwako, "The Lake of Lute", is the biggest lake in Japan. The north side of the lake is in beautiful and quiet countryside. I went there today, and borrowed a boat. I threw my handmade lures all day long. After all, I was not able to catch one. The water was too cold for the fish to chase lures. I was, however, very satisfied, as the cherry trees were in full blossom everywhere on the bank. The castle in the picture is in Nagahama city by Biwako.

I went to Kôchi for two-day lectures. The first day was for parents, and the second day for teachers. This year I planned the lecture for beginners to spread Adlerian Psychology. I have already visited Fukuoka, this time I was in Kôchi, then I will go to Tokyo, Gifu and Hakodate.

Kôchi is surrounded by mountains, while its south side faces the Pacific Ocean. It was isolated for long in the history. As a consequence, the people have unique culture. They are optimistic, they love drinking, they love singing and dancing, and their dialect is very special. I love their temperament.

They have a hero, Ryôma Sakamoto, who was a patriot at the Meiji Restoration. He was a timid and lazy boy in his childhood. He went to Edo (Tokyo) to learn the sword arts. There he met with Kaishu Katsu, who was a famous reformist. Katsu invited him to the navy, and he became one of the first navy officer in Japan. After that, he established a trading company. He persuaded the leaders of the reformist and suggested them to reform politics. According to his suggestion, they made the Restoration; General Tokugawa abdicated, and the Emperor became the head of the state. Ryôma can be said to be the general coordinator of the Meiji Restoration.

All the Kôchi boys respects Ryôma, and makes him a model of their life. When I was a little boy, a university student from Kôchi lived with my family. Those days, to help poor students, a rich family often invited one of them to live together. He was one of those students. In summer, my parents asked him to bring me and my brother to his hometown in Kôchi. I learned from him how to fish, how to swim and how to row a boat. Every year from 8 to 13 years old, I enjoyed my summer vacations in Kôchi. He was another Ryôma; he resembled the hero in temperament, jolly and cheerful. I love Kôchi city and its people mainly because of him. He became a teacher of science in a high school, and now retired. We are still exchanging new year cards every year.

After talking with many Ryôma-s at the lecture, I took a holiday and went fishing. At a river, I caught amago, a sort of trouts (Oncorhynchus masou). I believe this was the biggest amago I had ever caught. Unfortunately, I did not have a measure, and I could not gain the objective data. Everywhere, cherry blossoms were fully blooming.